Background:
The New National Front of Afghanistan (NNF), officially launched as an opposition party on Thursday, Jan 14, 2016, claims the National Unity Government (NUG) has failed in all areas. It stressed that elections should be held as soon as possible so as to replace the current government. Speaking at the launch, Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi, the chairman of the new party, said that all activities of the NUG are against national interests. He said he regrets having supported the NUG leaders during the 2014 presidential elections and said people should not have to be victims of political games of the NUG leaders— President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah. Maulavi Qalamuddin, one of the founders of the party sent a message to Ghani and said he will lose the nation's support if he does not turn things around. Sayed Jawad Husaini, another leader of the party, said opposition parties serve as a voice of nations and monitor government's activities. The new party is the second political party after the National Congress Party, led by Abdul Latif Pedram, to take on an opposition role.(20160114)

More Background:
Now-e Melli Jabha (the New National Front), was formed by Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi on 14 January 2016. More than other groupings, it has presented itself as an opposition force. During the inauguration ceremony, Ahadi called the government “a failure” and demanded new presidential elections before 2019. The New National Front is a coalition of various small political parties: the Afghan Millat Party, Adalat wa Tawseha (Justice and Development), Harakat-e Inqilab-e Islami (Islamic Revolution Movement of Afghanistan) and several other lesser known parties.

Not all members of these individual parties endorsed Ahadi’s Front. For instance, on the day of the New National Front’s inauguration, some members of the Afghan Millat party including secretary general Abdul Qayum Arif, refused to back the initiative . A member of Harakat-e Inqilab-e Islami, a party that had supported Ghani’s camp in the 2014 presidential election, said that they were not backing the Front. Abdul Hakim Mujahed, a prominent member of the party, said, “We supported Ghani in the presidential election and we still stick to our commitment.” Haji Zabiullah Tarakhel, the head of the political committee of Harakat, dismissed the dissent and told AAN that all the members of the high council of Harakat had agreed to back Ahadi’s front; the members who refused to back the front, he said, might have done so because they held government jobs.

Despite dissent within the member parties, the New National Front was arguably the most outspoken opposition group during the recent rift between Chief Executive Abdullah and President Ghani, thereby living up, to some extent, to its promise to be “a true opposition.” In a statement on 23 August 2016, the Front called the NUG a failed experience that had to be gotten rid of, saying, “As it completes its two years, it is time for Afghanistan to have a new start.”

In fact, since its establishment, the Front has repeatedly targeted both the legitimacy and efficiency of the NUG arrangement. For instance, during the inauguration on 14 January 2016, Ahadi had said, “People want a change in the government and our constitution allows us to hold early elections. No one can argue that this is a legal government.” In another interview in February 2016, he did not see any chance for the current government to be sustained, saying that the only solution was early elections, as the law allowed them. Then, in an interview with BBC Persian on 30 March 2016, Ahadi questioned the legitimacy of the political agreement and termed it a violation of the constitution, saying that people had only accepted the formation of the NUG with the expectation that it would demonstrate efficiency, thus ignoring the “procedural illegitimacy.”(20161025)